


Captured? Remus? Pshh.

by AspenCe



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Trans Character, it/its pronouns, mer!patton, mer!remus, mer!roman, mermaid au, they/them pronouns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26148673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AspenCe/pseuds/AspenCe
Summary: Roman SLASHES REMUS WITH A SWORD and Remus decides that humans are better than mers.Logan and Emile are very confused marine wildlife rescuers who don’t know what to do with the crazy masochistic mer who just leapt into their lives.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Dr. Emile Picani
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	1. Trick Island

The waves were little blips, washing up gently on the shore and washing out just as cleanly. The sea was a deep green-blue, the sun reflecting off the water in little flashes of orange and yellow; and the beach was empty.

It was an island, long and nearly ovular, with trees and grass and skittering animals around a large black rock that was comparable to a mountain in size. An island that on first glance, was a natural haven, left untouched by human hands.

On second glance, the island was a trick. The black rock hid a white-walled human facility in its shadow, a building with thick glass windows that peered into usually empty tanks and other windows that looked over beakers of chemicals and beeping computers. 

And if anyone stayed long enough at the trick island to give it a third glance, they would see the pair of humans, getting on a boat and starting the quiet motor, setting off into the open waters.

“What are we hoping to find today, Lo?” Emile asked brightly, sitting in a chair semi-facing the other scientist and semi-facing the ocean. 

The other, who was driving the boat, replied with the smallest hint of a smile, “Ideally, nothing; but in actuality, perhaps an injured seal that we can rehabilitate.”

Emile smiled. 

Logan added, “After this check, we’re going to have to go inland for supplies. We’re running low on antiseptics and lenses.”

Emile huffed. He didn’t enjoy supply-getting; sure, he was a people-person, but he really did enjoy the company of his best friend and the sea creatures more than that of the admittedly inconsiderate people inland. 

His gaze strayed from his partner to the water, which was exceptionally pretty and clear and blue at the moment. It was all mostly empty, but that was because they’d already passed the reef. 

There was a shadow in the water, too streamlined to be a seal and too fluid to be a dolphin, but too big to be a normal fish. Emile followed the shadow with his eyes, frowning slightly in concentration so that he wouldn’t lose sight of it. 

The shadow twisted, circling the boat, in a meticulous way that made it seem like it was sizing it up. Emile felt silly as his heartbeat quickened- but for some reason, the shadow unsettled him. 

It moved away, and for a moment Emile thought that it was leaving; but then it turned around and went straight towards their boat. 

Only then did Emile notice the cloud of brown water that puffed out around the shadow, in far too large of an amount to be safe.

The shadow was right at the edge of their boat now, so close that Emile thought he might be able to reach his arm in and touch it- though he didn’t, he just came closer, watching it worriedly. It was a lot of blood.

A human hand reached out of the water and grabbed tightly onto the edge of the boat, and Emile yelped. His heart was pounding wildly now, and he rushed over to help the person out of the water, only to back away again when they pulled themself out. 

They had short, wet hair that clung to their bruised face, and their skin was almost deathly pale. Their hands were… a little odd for a person, with the webbing between the fingers, but Emile didn’t think about that - he was too busy looking at the deep gash cutting in their shoulder. It was bleeding a lot.

And then the person pulled their lower half out of the water, using only the one hand still, and Emile blinked in surprise.

A slender, dark green tail with glittery black scales peppering it and patches of blood was firmly attached to the person - mer? - where its legs should’ve been. 

The mer looked very conscious, and for some reason they were grinning - wow those teeth are SHARP. 

They chittered and clicked in a way that was similar to a dolphin mixed with a bird, then paused, cocking their head for a moment before starting again, in English. 

“Hi! Do you mind if I stay here for a bit? I kinda made someone very mad and I need a place to crash.” 

Emile looked at the wound again. “Um, n-no problem, but uh, can you let me fix that up?” 

By this time, Logan came back out of the lab part of the boat - Emile hadn’t noticed that he’d left - carrying two boxes.

The mer looked at the boxes with interest and asked brightly, “What’s in those? Ooh, are there knives in there? Or a barbed whip? Or acid? Or needles that kill you? I wonder what it would feel like to be stabbed repeatedly and then have acid poured on the wounds- this is going to be so fun! Now I can find out everything!”

Emile reeled back, horrified, but Logan just replied semi-calmly, “No, they’re just bandages, for stopping you from bleeding.”

The mer looked disappointed, but settled down into what Emile thought was probably sitting. 

“Well, you’re no fuuuun,” they huffed, folding their arms over their chest, while looking a bit dizzy. 

“If it makes you feel better, there’s chemicals on the bandages that will sting when I put them on your wounds,” Logan said, bandages in hand.

They brightened again and unfolded their arms, watching Logan curiously as he wrapped the white strips around their torso and shoulder. The mer didn’t even flinch, only grinning wider.

Emile looked from the mer to Logan, then down at his hands. He didn’t know what he could do- he was trained to help sea creatures, not merpeople.

“Do you need to stay in water to live?” Logan asked.

“Nah, nuh r’lly, I jus’ need wa’r e’ry toe hours…” the mer answered, his words slurring and his body swaying concerningly. “Don’ wo-ry ‘bout meee, I’ll be fiiine…” 

Logan turned to Emile and said, “Get the biggest tank filled.” 

Then he turned back to the mer and asked as many medical questions as he could before the mer passed out. (He only got to ask two, unfortunately, and the responses were incomprehensible.)


	2. Remus is a People-Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus wakes up! And it turns out it likes people-food.

Remus woke up slowly, feeling very delirious and nauseous. _I’m probably drunk off those rotting berries I stole from that fisherman yesterday… shoot, why’d I have to forget? I probably had a lot of fun…_

It opened its eyes to a bright room, filled with empty tanks and lab supplies. The water it was in was way too still to be the ocean, which was a dead giveaway.

It looked down and saw bandages over the gash its brother had given it, then at the walls of the tank. They were tinted gray, which definitely helped it know where the boundaries were, and the tank itself was big enough for it to move comfortably in.

Sooo it had gone to the random human boat for refuge. It grinned- _Roman would never think I’d go here!_

Remus flicked its tail and swam up to the top of the tank, reaching out the hand on its non-injured arm to grab the rim and pull it up so that its head and half its torso were out of the water.

Its tail was stinging in a lot of different places, and its shoulder hurt like hell, but the pain was familiar and not entirely unwanted, because pain for it was actually an invigorating, addicting feeling. It was too bad that no one else seemed to understand that… they all just assumed that it was a crazy person who’d gotten hurt too many times to care. _Not that that’s not true, too, obviously._

“Oh, you’re awake,” said one of the humans it had gone to, the one whose personality colors were navy blue and black.

Remus grinned. “Yep! Are you going to cut me open now? I’ve always wondered what my insides would look like outside my body, all squishy and firm and twisty and-”

“Nope,” Navy-Black interrupted. Aww shoot. “We aren’t going to cut you open. In fact, we’re not going to hurt you at all; we’re only going to help you get better and then release you.”

 _WHAT THE HELL- NO!_ Remus was so startled that it fell backwards into the water, and had to swim back up to express its aversion to that idea. It spat out some water and gave Navy-Black and incredulous look. “Are you serious?”

“Very much so; I wear a necktie.” Navy-Black smiled.

It blinked, then started laughing so hard that its sides started hurting, which was one of the few kinds of pain that it didn’t really enjoy too much. When it recovered, it said, “So- let me get this straight- I, Remus, the crazy, insane mer everyone hates- managed to find two humans who don’t want to hurt me? How unlucky can I get?”

Navy-Black blinked and frowned. “Unlucky? Why would not getting hurt be unlucky?”

Remus snorted and looked out of a window, which showed it that it was on an island. “You know, I’d really like to find someone willing to rip off all my scales or let me drink a cup of bleach. But no- just because everyone else thinks it's horrible and awful, they all keep insisting that I don’t really want that. I mean, it’s not like I want to die or anything! Just… get really close!”

“Okay… well, we’re still not going to hurt you, so I’m sorry, I suppose. Are you hungry? What do you eat?” Navy-Black changed the subject, clearly uncomfortable with it.

Remus thought for a second. “I’m kinda hungry? Not much though. And I eat literally anything, even the things that everyone keeps telling me are ‘inedible’ and should be ‘avoided’. Oh! Do you have any deodorant! I took some from a sailor once and Ro-Ro told me not to, but I ate it anyway and I wanna eat some more!”

Navy-Black’s eyebrows raised and he blinked.

“I do… but I don’t think it would be beneficial for your recovery,” he said finally.

It rolled its eyes and sighed. “Fine- if you have some juice that’d be nice, and maybe a sandwich.”

Navy-Black looked surprised. “You- you’ve had human food before?”

“Um, yeah?” Remus replied. _Duh_. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a lotta people who go on boats for vacations. Besides, fish gets boring.”

“...okay, I’ll get it for you.”

“Amazing.”


	3. Roman isn’t a Bad Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman actually kind of just made a really big mistake...

When Roman had calmed down enough to stop sulking and start feeling guilty about slashing his twin with a sword, he started freaking out. 

Remus wasn’t _there_.

It wasn’t on a rock, eating pebbles or something; it wasn’t underwater, beating up a shark; but it _did_ leave a trail of blood that ended abruptly in a way that made it clear that his twin had been _captured by humans_. 

He didn’t know which way to go. His calls were answered with silence. What was he to do? He’d lost Remus once before, and it had gone from a normal, happy mer to a crazy, chaotic one. Remus had been hurt badly by humans- Roman didn’t know how his twin would be handling being caught _again_.

In the midst of his distress, a mer with a purple tail and black hair swam up to him and asked bluntly, “Why are you calling for Remus?”

“Because I lost it! I lost Remus because I got mad at it and hurt it and then it left and now it’s been captured by humans!” Roman answered, his fear evident in his voice. 

“Woah, woah -” Virgil said, paler than usual. “It got captured? We’ve gotta get it back, that crazy mer hasn’t got an ounce of self preservation!”

“Who got captured?” Patton interrupted, looking worried. He looked from one to the other and then paled. “Remus!? Ack no let’s go find him!”

_Yeah. Let’s_. 

They split up, clicking out their locations every so often and giving short reports.

_Find anything?_

_Not yet…_

_Same here._

_..._

_Nothing!_

_Nothing…_

Still nothing…


	4. Logan is a Goldfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan asks Remus a question, and Remus conducts an autopsy on a dead fish.

“Remus, right?” asked the second human, Pink-Ochre, as he entered the kitchen.

  
  


Remus was sitting on the countertop, its tail curling and uncurling lazily, viciously eating its second sandwich- but it paused and grinned in favor of saying, “That’s me! But I also go by The Duke, Evil Twin, and Imp!” 

  
  


Pink-Ochre just kept smiling, in a way that reminded Remus of Patton and made it want to puke. “I’m Emile! So, how are you doing? Is your shoulder hurting too bad?” 

  
  


It blinked and reeled back, so surprised by the question that it burst out laughing. “Is- is-” it gasped for breath and kept giggling. “Is my shoulder- oh that’s a  _ good  _ one, Em!” It recovered well but kept grinning as it answered, “My shoulder is the least of my worries, and my biggest worry right now is finding something to stab repeatedly, so I think I’m good.” 

  
  


“Um… okay…? That’s good…? Wh-what is it that you want to stab?”

  
  


Remus thought out loud, tapping its finger against its chin. “Hm… what  _ do _ I want to stab right now? Preferably something with blood and organs… but I don’t want to murder anyone, not yet at least… you probably don’t want me torturing a barracuda… it needs to have  _ some  _ resistance, but not be impossible like a rock or something… ahhh forget it - you got any dead animals around here?”

  
  


Emile looked very pale and the slightest bit nauseous at that, and he looked like he had to forcibly calm himself down to keep his voice as calm as possible when he replied, “Um, well, we have fish… for rescues to eat…?” 

  
  


It shrugged - fish wasn’t quite what it wanted, but it would do. “Make sure it’s big enough to make for a good stabbing fish.” 

  
  


With a decisive nod, Remus turned away from Emile to finish its sandwich and reach for a third. 

  
  


_ I wonder what Ro-Ro, Vi, and Pat are up to? _

  
  


It snorted, which wasn’t a very good idea with the sandwich still in its mouth and sent a burning pain up its nose and made it cough, but it was a necessary response to such a dumb thought. 

  
  


_ They’re probably having a great big party now that I’m gone. Fluff and sparkles, the dumbest things - they never liked me. Fuck, Ro almost killed me for once! And as much as I appreciate a good slash with a sword, I  _ don’t  _ want to die.  _

  
  


_ Virgin Scaredy-Scales will be glad he doesn’t have to put up with my pranks anymore, and Pat-Pat the Dad-Gnat will pretend to miss me but be secretly happy that I won’t be around to put his boy-bitch-friends in danger.  _

  
  


Remus lashed its tail, slamming it into the cabinets it was sitting on, and enjoyed the dull shock of pain it sent up. Looking at the  _ boring _ , dumb sandwich in its hands again, it wrinkled its nose and started ripping it to shreds. It wasn’t angry at  _ all _ . No, it  _ didn’t _ care about the three lovey-dovey idiots who never let it do  _ anything _ it wanted to do while not even liking it in the first place. No. It was  _ glad  _ that it had gone to the humans, even though they were stupid softies who  _ didn’t  _ want to do experiments or dissect it. 

  
  


It just… fine. 

  
  


It was just upset because, yet again, it had  _ almost _ been fooled by their act. 

  
  


No one cared about it.  _ No one cared _ . And it  _ hated _ it when people tried to lie about caring. At least the humans never lied about that. 

  
  


Honestly, Remus had spent a lot more time with humans than any other mer, so much so that it often spouted our human sayings and slang more easily than the mer equivalents, so much so that it sometimes wished that it  _ was _ human because the ocean (no offense) got boring. 

  
  


“Are you alright?” 

  
  


Remus looked up sharply to see that Navy-Black was standing a few feet away, concerned. It grinned, showing off its pointed teeth. “Yep! Just thinking about my dumb-bro’s boyfriends and how much I want to murder them.” 

  
  


Navy-Black seemed to consider that for a moment, before he sat down in a boring wooden chair across from it and commented, “You’re very fluent in English. May I ask why that is?”

  
  


“Got caught by some researchers back when I was a boring, PG-uppy, stayed there for a couple years and picked up some stuff,” Remus answered offhandedly. “Ever since then I’ve been around a lot more humans, ‘cause why not? You guys are interesting, if you catch my drift.”

  
  


He blinked, looking momentarily confused before he just shook his head. “Why would you spend more time around humans after being subject to experimentation?” 

  
  


This time it scowled. Navy-Black sounded like  _ Roman  _ with all of his  _ dumb reasoning nonsense _ , and Remus had had enough of  _ that _ in its life. 

  
  


“Because humans are  _ fun _ , haughty-huff. You have lots of chemicals and machines and torture devices and you have  _ way _ more interesting lives because  _ you _ don’t just live in the ocean hunting and looking for mates and occasionally exploring shipwrecks.  _ You _ have schools, coffee shops, ice cream, guns, skyscrapers, and  _ lives _ . The other mers can go fuck themselves because they just don’t understand, and you can too if you’re gonna act like  _ Roman _ .”

  
  


Remus spat out its twin brother’s name and curled and uncurled its tail angrily. It  _ really _ wished it had something to stab right then. When was Emile coming back? 

  
  


Navy-Black, on the other hand, looked like he’d short-circuited, with his mouth just opening and closing uselessly like a stupid goldfish and his entire posture just  _ baffled _ . It was actually pretty funny, the nerdy-human rendered speechless, and Remus had to keep itself from laughing because  _ dammit, it was supposed to be angry _ .

  
  


Just then, Emile re-entered the room with a decently large dead fish in his arms and an apprehensive look on his face. He walked over to Remus after a moment's hesitation, dumping the fish onto the counter next to it.

  
  


“Here’s your… stabbing… fish.” Emile said nervously. 

  
  


Remus grinned and leaned over, grabbing a knife from the knife block and adjusting it in its grip so that it was holding it like a pencil.

  
  


After all, if the humans weren’t going to put  _ it _ in surgery so that they could figure out its anatomy and stuff, then it was going to do the next best thing: conducting an autopsy.

  
  


It noted with satisfaction that Emile winced and Navy-Black was just watching with morbid fascination.


	5. Logan is Distracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan tries to focus, but Remus is distracting~

Logan wasn’t sure what to think of Remus. Sure, that was normal for him, considering his… ineptitude with figuratively “reading” people, or mers in this case. But Remus was vastly different than anyone he’d ever met.

For one, Remus was a mer. Something that Logan hasn’t thought could possibly exist, hadn’t even considered as a possibility. And Remus didn’t seem to be wary of humans in the least - he’d come to  _ them _ , and just started communicating right away.

Two, Remus was consistently either advocating for hurting himself or something/someone else, which was disconcerting, to say the least. It was decidedly  _ not _ a healthy mindset, but Logan didn’t have the slightest clue how he could possibly start changing the mer’s mind.

Three, Logan was  _ absolutely certain _ that Remus had somehow snuck into his room and set his notebook on fire. It was only the  _ one  _ notebook, the one where he’d started writing everything he’d learned about mers so far, and the ashes were on his table. 

(Logan had no clue how Remus could have known about it, or how he managed to get into his room unnoticed when both Logan and Emile were actively checking in on him every hour or so, and not even at the same time. He didn’t even think that they  _ had _ a lighter.)

So Logan was, for the first time in a very long time, just “accepting things as they are.” 

It  _ didn’t  _ help that Emile was suddenly a lot shyer and more unsure of himself, or that Remus was currently watching an r-rated horror flick on full volume. 

Logan sighed and massaged his temples, trying and failing to focus on pre-ordering a restock of the supplies that Remus had gone through at an exceptionally fast pace. He’d found that it was very difficult to focus on  _ anything _ with Remus around, and not just because of how fascinating he was. 

(A/N - sorry for misgendering Remus, the whole pronoun talk hasn’t happened yet.)


	6. Janus is Here!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out that Remus actually does have friends - wow, talk about plot inconsistencies, huh?

_ “I never thought I’d be studying a specimen so fascinating,” mused the head sciencist. Her hair was a mix of brown and gray, like pepper; her skin was somewhat papery and brown; her eyes were hazel with a ring of silver, cold, calculating, apathetic. She smiled slightly, leaning back. “That aside - my reasons to keep you alive are nearly exhausted. Enjoy your last thirty-six hours of life while they last; I’m looking forward to dissecting you.” _

_ Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack…  _

_ The mer was in a round tank barely large enough for it, filled with sterile water mixed with placating drugs that kept it barely conscious at all times.  _

_ The tank was in the middle of the room, which was white and filled with beeps and tiks and computers and chairs and desks and technology and beakers and chemicals and charts - the mer was forced to look at them whenever its eyes were open, because the tank was exposed, leaving no semblance of darkness or privacy. It was overwhelming, nauseating; it gave the mer a splitting headache. _

_ The mer itself was in no good condition. Its scales were dull and flaking off, the fan of its tail was unnaturally transparent, and the edges were ragged; its eyes were dim and empty, long since void of any thought or emotion; it was thin and pale, with cylindrical chunks of flesh missing from its arm and a web of angry red scars covering its shoulder, half its torso, and part of its left arm. It was sickening, the state of its health, and the only other living being in the room was done with seeing it and doing nothing. _

_ Janus D. Scae, PhD, stood up and walked to the door, feeling the mer’s eyes follow blankly. They locked it and turned towards the mer. _

_ Their voice was quiet and calm, soothing, even though the mer didn’t look like it could hear in its dissociative state. “I’m going to let you go. I’m sorry, for not freeing you sooner… I have no excuse, but… I’m going to help you now.”  _

_ They started by turning off the devices with the beeps and tiks and LED lights, one by one, quickly and efficiently. They moved on to unplug everything attached to the tank in the center of the room, and as they did so, they heard a series of clicks.  _

_ At first, Janus thought it was the mer’s way of saying something, and brushed it off because they didn’t know how to speak the mer’s language.  _

_ But then they recognized it as Morse Code. _

_ -W-H-A… R… U… D-O-I-N- _

_ Janus answered in code. _

_ -U… F-R-E-E- _

_ -D-O-N… W-A-N… F-R-E-E- _

_ They didn’t know how to answer that. They straightened and started taking off the lid of the tank, trying to think about why the mer would want to stay. _

_ Finally, they tapped, _

_ -S-H-E… K-I-L-L… U- _

_ The mer didn’t reply for a long moment, but its blank face fell slightly, showing a flicker of sadness.  _

_ -O-H- _

_ Janus got the lid off.  _

_ -G-O… U-P- _

_ The mer weakly pulled itself halfway out of the water, still stronger than Janus expected it to be able to.  _

_ -C-A-N… G-O… I-N… A-I-R- _

_ -Y-E-S- _

_ Janus nodded and helped the surprisingly, and saddeningly, light mer out of the tank. It lifted its tail and loosely wrapped it around their chest, along with four tentacles that sprouted from its previously bare back, just under the shoulder blades and under its arms. It was not letting go.  _

_ -T-H-A-N-K… U- _

_ They smiled, though it was watery and guilt-ridden. They didn’t deserve thanks - they should’ve freed it sooner. _

_ But they hugged the mer a little tighter. _

_ - _

Remus stole Navy-Black’s phone (very stealthily! He didn’t suspect a thing) and typed in one of the two numbers it knew.

It rang twice before someone picked up.

_ “Dr. Scae; who is it?” _

“Dee-Dee! It’s your fishy-friend-forever~”

_ “Remus, why won’t you just take my advice and use one phone?”  _ Janus asked with a sigh.  _ “Because  _ obviously _ you  _ definitely _ have to keep borrowing other people’s phones to talk to me or Remy.”  _

“It’s more fun this way!” Remus answered, unphased by its friend’s seeming annoyance at it, because that was just their dynamic. “So how’re things going with Remy! You guys fuck?”

_ “No, it’s not like we’ve been dating for four years or anything.” _ Janus was being  _ very _ sarcastic, and Remus giggled. 

“Fine, I won’t make you give me all the juicy details this time - but only because guess what?!? Roman basically almost killed me and now I’m living with humans again!”

Based on the muffled thump and the following string of curse words and shouting, Remus could infer that Janus fell off of a chair in shock. It giggled, readjusting its position on the table while it waited for him to recover.

_ “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE LIVING WITH HUMANS AGAIN!?”  _


	7. Two-Second Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman comes up with a plan that took him two seconds to make and ten minutes to get the inspiration for.

“Okay, so, we definitely need a plan. A good plan. Because otherwise we’re going to be captured and tortured and killed and die.” 

Virgil said, as he and his two boyfriends sat on one of the large black rocks protruding from the ocean, and glared at the trick island a stone’s throw away. 

Roman huffed, folding his arms angrily. “I hate this! I just want to go in there and kill them and bring Remus back!”

“I know, sweetie,” Patton soothed, giving both of his boyfriends a big hug. “Virge, do you have a plan?”

“No,” Virgil admitted. 

They sat there in silence, trying to think of something - but they were all too distracted by worry. Remus was a very worrying mer, in general, but this was a different kind of worry. The first time it had been captured by humans, it had come back severely different, demanding to be referred to with it/its pronouns and actively seeking danger and pain. None of them wanted to know how much being captured a second time could change it.

“We could steal one of the humans and then demand for the other to give it to us in exchange for them!” Roman said, straightening and lifting up his hands in the way that he did whenever he got a particularly grand or adventurous idea.

The other two perked up and smiled, Patton widely and Virgil more smirking. 

“That might work.” 

“That’s a great idea!”

-

_ “Oh, that’s a  _ great _ idea! You barely know these people, Remus! Why-?!” _ Janus sighed.  _ “Look. You can either tell me where you are or I can find you the hard way.” _

Remus laughed, flicking its tail lazily while it laid on its back on the kitchen table and held the phone up to its ear. It’d missed Janus’ sarcasm and intense determination, no matter how much the other seemed to think that it just called for kicks. “Nah, I can give you a hint though! Lots of black rocks, and the water’s kinda cold.”

They were quiet.

Then they sighed in exasperation.  _ “Of course you wouldn’t give me a straight answer.” _

“I don’t think I can give a straight answer, Jan-Jan,” it huffed playfully. “I’m as aro-ace as a poker place~!”

_ “Will you ever stop bringing that up? It was one time!”  _

It snickered. “One time when you hit on the guy who owned the whole fucking poker place and then found out he was  _ aro-ace _ and threw up on him in mortification!” 

_ “...” _

_ “Why am I friends with you.” _

“Because you’re a weird idiot?” Remus shrugged, even though they couldn’t see it.  _ Why  _ are _ they friends with me? Everyone hates me. I’m creepy and loud and scary and - _

_ “Remus.” _

“What?”

_ “You’re stuck with me. Even if you stop calling, I’ll track you down just so that I can make sure you’re safe. Hell, I’m already doing that - and it’s because you’re my friend, Remus. I care about you. Now stop listening to those asshole mers who don’t give a fuck and start listening to the one with a PhD.” _

It sniffled. “Dee-Dee… that… you do care!”

_ “Of course I do,”  _ Janus scoffed.

Remus heard the front door open, and it wiped away the tears that  _ definitely  _ weren’t making its face all blotchy and wet. “Well, Em Pick’s back, so byeee~!”


	8. Stealing is Fun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman steals one of the humans that stole his twin, and it goes both really well and not so great.

The humans’ boat started up, and slowly started picking up speed as it headed for the mainland - a supply run, if his theory was correct.  _ Well… here goes nothing.  _

Roman flicked his tail, propelling himself forward and making the ocean water press closer around him. He wasn’t sure why  _ he’d  _ been chosen to be the one to steal the human - actually no, that was a lie, it was because Virgil was too easily spooked and Patton would probably let the human go right away. But he reserved the right to complain!

He had his sword strapped to his back (more aerodynamic that way) with a red sash, two things he’d gotten from humans that he hadn’t immediately destroyed out of pettiness.  ~~ Remus had found a green sash just so they could match. ~~

In other words: he was ready to fight whatever monstrous traps the humans might have set up, and he was going to return victorious! 

He weaved around the various black rocks with the shimmery light from the sun making him somewhat dizzy - what??? no, obviously he was fine with it, he’d had his entire life to get used to it - and pressed forward  _ just _ enough to grab onto the side of the boat. He immediately relaxed, since he didn’t have to keep swimming so hard to keep up, and cautiously pulled himself out of the water (only his head though) to locate the humans.

Luck was his ally, it appeared! There were two humans in sight, one completely preoccupied with steering the boat and the other only a few feet away, invested in looking very intensely at an odd object - oh, wait, a  _ book _ ,  ~~ Remus had told him about those. ~~ It was the perfect setup to steal the human; they wouldn’t see it coming! And there hadn’t been a single trap yet! 

He grinned, enjoying the thrill of it all - no he  _ wasn’t _ starting to see why  ~~ Remus ~~ liked danger so much, he was just… figuring out how fun it was to be a hero! - and reached down to the rope wrapped around his waist, carefully unwinding it and focusing on being absolutely silent. 

The human moved, and he tensed; but they just turned the page and kept looking -  _ reading _ . 

Finally, everything was in position. 

Roman pulled himself completely out of the water with a strength that allowed him to jump onto the human and immediately yank the rope over them, then shove off back into the ocean with a loud  _ splash. _

The human hadn’t even had time to scream! He was proud of himself. He darted through the water, dragging the human along with him (it only slowed him down a little and that made him even more proud) and counting the seconds. Virgil had told him to count to fifteen before going up so the human could get air - he was only on four.

_  
...six… seven… eight…  _

He weaved through the rocks again, going over some of the smaller ones and brushing past a patch of kelp.

_...nine… ten…  _

Over, around, left, up, right, twist -

_...eleven… twelve…  _

_ - _ push himself, ignore the burning in his tail and arms -

_...thirteen… fourteen…  _

-and shoot up out of the water and collapse onto the sun-kissed rock, panting heavily and feeling exhilaration tug the corners of his lips up into an exhausted grin, while the human gasped for breath and hacked out mouthfuls of ocean water. 

His mates were already waiting, and when they saw him they sprung up and launched themselves over to embrace him. 

“You did it!” Patton shouted excitedly, looking at him with sparkling eyes. “You did it, Roman! We’re gonna get Remus back!”

While Roman’s chest swelled at the praise, Virgil just rolled his eyes and smirked fondly. “Yeah.”

“Wa-wait…” the human said, in between coughs and gasps. Roman turned to them and tilted his head - then realized what he was doing and straightened it.  _ Now is not the time to look curious! I need to be intimidating!  _ “Did * _ hack* _ did you say  _ *gasp*  _ Remus?”

Next to Roman, Virgil’s hand met his face with a slap and a groan, and the sentiment was clear - “of course it went and told them its name like a reckless idiot.” 

Patton looked conflicted, like he really wanted to say something but was holding it in. 

And so Roman took it upon himself to fold his arms and glare at the human distastefully before sneering and asking, “What’s it to you,  _ human?” _

The human seemed to regain its composure and suddenly they looked very angry indeed, which caught all of them off-guard.

“Because if you’re the one who nearly  _ murdered _ it, I want to know so that I can detest you without feeling guilty,” they snapped, sitting up and letting the poorly tied ropes fall to the ground.

Roman winced. 

“I didn’t  _ mean  _ to,” he muttered, feeling ashamed anyways. 

The human took a deep breath, supposedly to calm down, and it worked because their tone was no longer biting and harsh; now it was strictly neutral. “Remus doesn’t want to leave. It is doing well with us, recovering from  _ certain injuries _ . You should leave it alone.” 

He reeled back, startled and angry.  _ How dare they!? Of course it wants to come back! Why would it want to stay with awful humans to get experimented on and then dissected like a dead frog?!? It’ll forgive me! It’s always forgiven me before! There’s no - no way - it CAN’T hate me!  _

_ Please… please don’t let it hate me…  _

~~_ It’s too late. _ ~~

“Hey!” 

_ Virgil. _

“Leave Roman alone! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

__ Patton.  
  


He buried his head in his hands.

~~_ Where’s Remus? _ ~~


	9. Remus Finds a Trigger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus’ past is even darker than anticipated...

Remus was inside, just eating paper, when it heard a loud  _ splash _ and it went completely rigid.

It knew that sound.

It was the sound of a glittery red tail meeting the ocean.

A sound that it had heard so many times that it was ingrained in its memory and impossible to forget. 

_ Roman was here. _

Its vision went completely dark, as though a switch had flipped in its brain, but it didn’t move even a fraction of an inch, because  _ Roman was here and it didn’t even know. _

Suddenly it felt a ripping pain from its shoulder to its abdomen, and it heard the sickeningly familiar, booming voice shouting at it to get lost, to leave them alone, and everything was just  _ too much too much too much _ and it was  _ going to die. _

And then it leaped back five years, the shouts of “evil” and “impossible” morphing into cries of pain as it was being dragged away from its family, caught in a metal net with sharp ridges that dug into its skin and made the scent of copper and salt overtake its senses until the pressure was too much and blackness settled over it like a blanket.

Nine years back, and it was clawing away from a monster with  _ too many teeth  _ and  _ too many eyes  _ and sent flashes of a sickly green-orange color searing into its mind. 

Twelve years - it curled up next to a bubbling air vent, its body convulsing involuntarily as it heaved out sobs.  _ Where were they? Why were they gone? Did they hate it? Were they leaving it forever?  _ ~~_ Why didn’t they say goodbye? _ ~~

Seventeen years. 

It looked up at the mer that sent waves of gold and black crashing into its skull, its eyes burning from trying to look. 

~~**_“Keep him safe.”_ ** ~~

It snapped back to the present, but its vision was still completely dark, and the echoes of the deep, scraping voice were ringing painfully in its ears. 

With a whimper, it curled in on itself, holding its tail to its chest and releasing the four tentacles on its back to wrap around the rest of its body. It helped a little, but it was shaking badly and it already knew there were tears streaming down its cheeks. 

“D-d-dee…?” its voice came out small and shaky and tentative. 

“...R-Rem-my…?”

There was no reply.

It bit its trembling lip and tried not to spiral back into the deep chasm of memories, but it didn’t do much good.


	10. Logan Finds Remus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is mostly calm - okay that’s a lie.

Logan cursed when he saw the flash of red scales and the loud  _ splash _ , quickly cutting off the engine and racing over to the side of the boat to try and spot the mer - but he already knew it was too late; Emile was gone, and there was nothing he could do.

There was a cold pit in the bottom of his stomach, and his eyes had gone blurry even though he was wearing his - oh. He was crying.

It made sense… Emile had been -  _ was _ \- his best friend for  _ years _ , and now he was just  _ gone. _

He ran through four breathing exercises before he felt he was calm enough to go talk to Remus, who probably had the most useful information for this… situation.

Talking one more deep breath, Logan let go of the railing and walked shakily inside, forcefully trying to show his pounding heartbeat. It didn’t work very well. He pushed open the door - 

-and was shocked to find Remus curled up on the floor, crying silently, with four new appendages that Logan definitely did not recall it having before. 

He bent down and asked in a shaky voice, “Can you hear me?”

Remus gasped and flung out all of its limbs, tackling him to the floor and wrapping its tentacles and tail around him with a vice-like grip, vocalizing its sobs and shaking even harder. 

“I-I-I th-thought… I was-s sa-afe… b-but-t-t he - he found m-me - I don’ wan-na die!” 

Logan found his own eyes tearing up again and he hugged it tightly, trying to reassure the broken mer. “Remus, I… it’s going to be okay. I-I don’t know how… but it’s going to be fine, I… I promise.”


	11. Remy is Illegal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy unintentionally commits a crime and thinks about his friend!

Remy sipped his coffee as he strode through the crowded airport, confidence rolling off of him as easily as breathing. His dyed pink hair (very gay) was swept carelessly to the side over his gray eyes, the ones hidden behind aviator shades, and his signature black leather jacket was just thrown on quickly - but he didn’t care about his somewhat rough appearance, because he had a flight to catch, and he  _ damn well _ wasn’t gonna miss it.

Flipping off a rude-looking  _ Karen _ he brushed past, he cut through the crowd like a knife through warm butter.  _ I know Emile - right? He’s my cousin, I saw him just last Christmas, he’s not the kind it person who would hurt it. He’s always been a big softie… there’s no way he hurt it, no way!  _

Despite his assurances to himself, he was still shaking imperceptibly, and he took another sip from his coffee to do something other than worry. How could he not? Remus might’ve been able to stay around humans perfectly fine when it was in its human form, but the only times it had been around humans in its true form, it had either been  _ tortured  _ or haunted by flashbacks  _ of _ that torture. 

With a deep breath, Remy tried his best to let it go and found that somehow he’d already gone through the TSA, and was now boarding a plane that was headed straight to the coast. It would be only a forty-minute flight - but even though Remy probably could’ve driven, he wanted to get there as fast as possible. After all, Janus was  _ already _ there, by means Remy knew he would never know.

_ Alright. Let’s do this, girl. _

He blinked, and suddenly noticed that he still had his one-third full cup of coffee in his hand, just as the plane prepped for takeoff.

_ How the fuck did I get that through airport security!?  _

With the grace of a falling giraffe, he gulped down the last of his coffee and shoved the crumpled cup and straw into the trash bin.

Taking deep breaths of air, Remy suddenly realized that  _ he’d just gotten a freaking cup of coffee past airport security _ , without even  _ noticing _ that that’s what he was doing. The same airport security that didn’t allow too much  _ toothpaste _ to follow people onboard. 

He snickered and leaned back in his seat.  _ Remus must be rubbing off on me - and I haven’t even seen it in person in two years! _

The Flight Attendant shot him an odd look and skipped talking to him for some reason.

-

_ Remus bounced on its heels, a bright grin splitting across its face as it looked around excitedly at all the rainbow colors and the crowds of people dressed in the least straight-cis ways imaginable.  _

_ Remy snorted, smirking at how enthusiastic the mer-human-thing-with-shapeshifting was about the whole idea of Pride. He always loved showing new people around and seeing how much their eyes lit up - not that he would ever tell anyone that. Maybe Janus. Maybe. _

_ At first, when Remus had quietly told them that it wasn’t a he, they’d both been more worried than anything - something about trauma dehumanizing (de-mer-izing?) it to make it  _ think  _ that it wanted to be nothing more than an object - but Remy just got the feeling that Remus wasn’t cishet. Like gaydar, but more general, like a rainbow sensor. And here they were! _

_ Okay, nope, here  _ he _ was. Remus was nowhere in sight. _

_ Only  _ slightly _ panicking, he scanned the crowd meticulously and tried to think of where it might go. The booths? The drag performers? The - ? _

_ Remy caught sight of a lunatic running around doing handsprings with a non-binary flag tied around its shoulders, and he just blinked. Then, his face split into a grin. _

_ He pulled out his phone, snapped a pic, and then turned around and strode right into the coffee shop where he ended up buying three cups of strong (yes sugary) coffee while he waited for Remus to exhaust itself enough for interaction.  _


End file.
